Ponga said:
Perhaps a more important question would be: Does that work permit still give you a legal status in Canada, even though you haven't been working?
Yes it does. Explained in more detail here: http://www.blaney.com/articles/employment-termination-and-maintenance-lawful-status-canada
icee_chic said:
Yes we decided to apply inland instead because my working permit will expire in 2016 and I cannot go outside Canada unless there's an emergency back home but the catch there is I don't have any idea if they will still allow me to enter in Canada since I resigned from my employer. Anyways, I think its Ok for us to process inland instead since I am also processing for my credentials to be evaluated as a Foreign Nurse here and it takes time to have it evaluated. Because if it's outland I need to wait for my permit to expire in 2016 before I can go outside Canada.
While you are currently legal in Canada, you are correct that it would be difficult to return to Canada if you ever left if you are no longer employed with the company listed on your work visa. This is true no matter if you applied inland or outland.
If you apply inland and submit an OWP along with your application you should get the open work permit after 13 months. Then another 8 months to finish processing so 21 months total. During this entire time, you would not be able to leave Canada for any reason, even if there was an emergency back home. If you couldn't return to Canada your inland PR app would be cancelled.
If you applied outland, since you have valid status in Canada for at least 1 year you can
request CPC-Ottawa to process your outland app based on your current residency in Canada. In this case any potential interview would be in Canada, so no need to ever leave.
HOWEVER there is no guarantee that CIC would follow your request, so there a chance your app would be sent to your country of citizenship (I think you're from Philippines so through Manila office). But even if this happened you could still stay in Canada during the entire processing time with your current status. An average app through Manila takes around 12 months total.
Applying outland through CPC-Ottawa seems the preferable choice for you, however the big risk is if your app is instead sent to Manila and you are called for an interview there. Then you would need to leave Canada, and would need to stay in Philippines until your PR is approved. The chance of an interview is usually very small, BUT it looks like you had a very quick relationship followed by quick marriage, which is a red flag for any application.